USA > Missouri > Ray County > History of Ray county, Mo. > Part 66
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JOHN W. FRANCIS.
John W. Francis was born in Madison county, Ohio, on the 14th day of May, 1842. His father, Alexander B. Francis, was born in the same county and state, on the 28th day of January, 1817. His mother's name, before marriage, was Virginia A. Elsey. She was born in Virginia on the 9th of January, 1823, and was the eldest of a family of seven children. His parents were married on the 1st of August, 1841, and three years afterward in the spring of 1844, the year of the great overflow of the Missouri river, emigrated to the state of Missouri. They traveled mainly by steamboat in seeking their new home in the west. They landed first
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at Booneville, Missouri, but remained there only a short time, selecting, after a few weeks, Sugar Tree township, Carroll county, for their new home. His occupation here was farming, until the death of his mother, in April, 1854, when he lived for a short time in the family of Wilson Malone, and with his aunt Betsey Francis. His father marrying Mar- garet Colley, in 1855, he returned home and lived with his father until the death of his father's second wife. His father then sent him to live with John F. Dale, four miles northwest of Richmond, where he remained until his father married the third time, July 14, 1857, uniting his fortunes this time with Mary A. Proffitt. His father, about this time, purchased a small farm, seven miles north of Richmond, and lived on it until his death, which took place July 11, 1862. Before his father's death, a few months, he enlisted in the United States service, volunteering as a private in company K, 23d Missouri volunteers, for the term of three years from the 22d day of December, 1861. This regiment was then stationed at Grand River Bridge, one mile east of Utica, and shortly afterward went into winter quarters at Chillicothe, Missouri. On or about the 1st of March, 1862, his regiment was ordered to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, and after some thorough drilling, it was ordered to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. It left St. Louis by steamboat, on the first day of April, 1862, and succeeded in reaching its point of destination, Saturday, April 5, 1862, in time to participate in the great battle of Pittsburg Landing, on the 6th and 7th of April, 1862. His regiment was in General B. M. Prentiss' brigade, in the battle, and suffered terribly, having been greatly exposed His company (company K) was
in the hottest part of the engagement.
fearfully depleted. Out of eighty men in this company that went into action, only fifteen answered at roll call at the close of the battle, the remainder being killed, wounded or taken prisoners. In fact, the entire regiment had met with such a heavy loss, that it was sent back to Alton Illinois, to recruit. The brave colonel of the regiment, Colonel Jacob T. Tindall, was killed on the first day of the battle, April 6, 1862. Mr.
Francis received a wound in this battle, and was sent back to hospital in St. Louis, to receive surgical treatment. After recovering from his wound he rejoined his regiment, which had partly filled up its thinned ranks with new recruits, and in 1863 took up its line of march to McMinnville, Ten- nessee; thence to the front at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and took part in all the battles and skirmishes from there to Atlanta, Georgia. The prom- inent battles in which he was, were Mission Ridge, Resaca, Georgia; Ringgold, Georgia; Allatoona, Georgia; Kenesaw Mountains, Georgia; and in the siege of Atlanta. When his regiment arrived at Atlanta, it was assigned to the first brigade, third division, fourteenth army corps, army of the Cumberland. After the capture of Atlanta, he was in the memorable march after the Confederate General Hood and his army,
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HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
when he went back to Franklin, Tennessee. On the Coosa river, near Rome, Georgia, General Sherman divided his army, and sent the fourth and twentieth corps to oppose General Hood and the remainder of the army concentrated at Kingston, Georgia, and severed communication with the world. He was one of the grand army that marched with Sher- man to the sea, and was one of the boys in blue, in that celebrated march, and took part in all the movements of the victorious columns that General Grant characterized as prompt, skillful and brilliant. He was discharged in 1865, at Hilton Head, South Carolina, and took passage on the ocean steamer Fulton, for New York City, thence by railroad to Ray county, Missouri. On reaching home he found his father and brother were both dead, and the other members of the family living at different places. He turned his attention to farming for a short time after he came home. In the spring of 1865, a regiment of Missouri militia was organized in Ray county, and he was elected captain of one of the companies, (company D), and duly commissioned by Thomas C. Fletcher, governor of Mis- souri, on the 5th day of May, 1865. In October, 1865, he went to Law- rence, Kansas, and hired to a freighting firm to drive a team of oxen across the plains to Fort Union, New Mexico, and was caught in a severe storm on the Cimarron, in New Mexico, and lost over three hundred head of oxen by freezing and starving to death. In the spring of the year following, he went on to Fort Union and Las Vegas, delivered over freight, and returned to Ray county in the summer of 1866. After the Rich- mond bank robbery, May 23, 1867, when John Shaw, mayor of Rich- mond, F. S. Griffin, deputy sheriff, and Benjamin G. Griffin, his father, were killed by the bank robbers, he was appointed deputy sheriff by Mr. A. K. Reyburn, who was then sheriff of Ray county. He acted as his deputy until his term of office expired. In November, 1868, he was elected sheriff and collector of Ray county, on the Republican ticket.
On August 24, 1869, he married Amelia J. Reyburn, then seventeen years old, and eldest daughter of A. K. Reyburn, ex-sheriff of Ray county. The issue of the marriage has been two boys: Harry and Willie. The latter one, Willie, died January, 1874. In November, 1870, he was re-elected sheriff by a larger majority than any one on the ticket, running ahead of the party vote. He was also elected one term to the city council, and one term, marshal of the city of Richmond, from April, 1870, to April, 1871. After the expiration of his term as sheriff and col- lector of Ray county, he went to Colorado and remained there about one year, then returned to Richmond, and shortly afterward moved to Hardin, Ray county, and was appointed by the board of trustees, marshal and collector, and served one term. He then moved back to Richmond. During his official career as sheriff, he discharged the duties of his office with marked ability. He pursued and captured many criminals and fugi-
1
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HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
tives from justice. Among the most noted ones were, James Devvers, whom he captured in Madison county, Kentucky, the reward being $1100. James Devvers was one of the bank robbers in Richmond, May 23, 1867. Another was William McDow, who killed Ben Houston near Knoxville, Missouri. He was caught at Lone Jack, Missouri, reward being $500. . He also captured Abe Lee, who had killed his man in Mandeville, Car- roll county, Missouri. In April, 1877, he was appointed as postal clerk in the railway mail service by Postmaster General D. M. Key, a position which he now holds. He moved to the city of St. Louis at the time he was appointed, and still resides there. He was at one time a stockholder in the Ray County Savings Bank, and a director of the Ray County Agri- cultural Association. By his energy and close attention to business and the duties of his office, he acquired a large amount of property. He at · one time owned the fine brick mansion east of Richmond, and four hun- dred acres of land near and adjoining the city. In the great financial crash of 1873, that involved so many men of capital and business talent, he lost the great bulk of the fortune he had amassed. His great energy and capacity for whatever he turns his attention to, are rapidly elevat- ing him to a high position in the prominent circles of business men of the country. His career, so far, is a fine example of what pluck and peseverance will do in overcoming all the unfavorable surroundings and obstacles of early life.
HOLLAND VANDERPOOL.
The early pioneers of our county are rapidly passing away; ere long the last of them will have been " gathered to their fathers." Among the few who yet survive is Holland Vanderpool, a native of Campbell county, East Tennessee. He was born December, 24, 1806. His father, John Vanderpool, was the very first settler in Ray county. He came in the summer of the year 1815, and located on Crooked river, in the southeastern part of the county, and the early years of our subject's life were those of the pioneer. School advantages were meagre-in fact there were no schools-and Mr. Vanderpool's literary training is, in con- sequence, limited to such as he acquired at home, with no further assist- ance from others than the teaching him of the alphabet by his parents. August 28, 1828, Mr. Vanderpool was married to Miss Leah Linville, also a native of Tennessee. The result of this union was ten children, only four of whom are now living, as follows: Franklin, James K., George W. and Martha. Holland Vanderpool has spent almost his entire life in Ray county, and now that his head is blossoming for the grave, he is sustained and blessed by the reflection that he has "lived honorably, hurt nobody, and rendered every man his due." For more than forty years he has been a faithful, consistant member of the Old School Baptist
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HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
Church. A man of proverbial kindness, he has done much to relieve the sufferings of others -- ministering to the distressed, healing the sick and dis- pensing charity to those truly in need, whenever and wherever he could. Mr. Vanderpool took no part in the civil war: He remained at home, pursuing his life-long vocation of farming. He has made it the ruling principle of his life " to do unto others as he would be done by, " and has therefore the respect of all who know him. A worthy citizen, a warm- hearted, obliging gentleman. We are happy to pay this tribute to a character deserving a more extended notice than the plan of this work will allow.
ALEXANDER OLIPHANT.
Alexander Oliphant was born at Marlfield, near Kelso, county of Rox- borough, in Scotland, in 1806, and died from the effects of injuries received from a fall in Leavenworth, Kansas, September 22, 1878. He married Mrs. Martha Nisbet, widow of John Nisbet, December 7, A. D. 1837, in the county of Armagh, in Ireland. His wife survives him. He had two children, Mary G. Oliphant, now Maitland, wife of Alexander Maitland, and Ralph Oliphant, both of whom survive him. Johanna H. N. Nisbet was a daugher of Mrs. Martha Oliphant by her first husband, who mar- ried James W. Black, of Richmond, Missouri. She died October 3, A. D. 1860. In 1838, Mr. Oliphant left Scotland for the purpose of making his future home in the United States. In the same year he settled on his farm, seven miles north of Richmond, in Ray county, in the state of Mis- souri, where he remained until the day of his death. Mr. Oliphant hav- ing become a citizen of this country, always took a lively interest in its prosperity. In all the issues peculiar to a new country constantly spring- ing up, he displayed a clear judgment and great thought in forming his conclusions. As a farmer he was active, enterprising and successful. His farm was a model of enterprise. Always ready to encounter the risk of the adoption of modern appliances and methods, he kept pace with the great progress in agricultural pursuits. In the raising of fruit and culture of the grapes, he displayed great art, and brought to bear a knowledge of botany that only intense observation and study can supply, and in what- ever direction he turned his attention in the raising of staple productions, the introduction of improved quality of cereals, the raising of stock or cul- ture of fruit of every character, he was not satisfied to tread the trodden path, but sought from observation and science, and treatises upon the subject that knowledge which would enable him to keep fully up with the greatest advance of science. His dwelling, surrounded by plants and flowers, indigenous and exotic, displayed his culture and taste and rendered his home a bower of beauty which a Shenstone or a Rogers might have envied. Amidst all his busy and active pursuits he still retained his love
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HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
of the muses. Every department of knowledge received his attention. Mathematics never palled upon his taste, and in their varied applications, he took intense interest. Surveyor of the county in which he resided for a number of years, and subsequently undertaking large contracts of survey- ing under the government of the United States in the territory of Kansas, · he made himself thoroughly master of the most complicated instruments and system of surveying used in surveying large tracts of country. He made a specialty of chemistry, ornithology and pyrotechny. He had a rare and valuable collection of birds of the various species peculiar to the west, and studied with care their habits and peculiarities. A devoted lover of chem- istry, he spent a portion of his time in its experiments and applications; and pyrotechny furnished a means for some of its most striking illustra- tions as well as amusement for his leisure hours. Turning from severer pursuits, music would relax his overstrained faculties, and as the airs adapted to ballads and lyrics familiar to his youth welled from his favor- ite instrument, he would live over his life again and roam amidst the for- ests, and hills, and mountains and lakes of his native land. Mr. Oliphant graduated at Edinburgh College. He possessed a mind thoroughly dis- ciplined by the most laborious and intense study. Possessing a fine natu- ral capacity, and aided by every facility for acquiring information, he explored a wide field of science and stored up a vast amount of knowl- edge. He was gifted with a memory strong, vigorous and grasping, which retained, even in his old age, a tenacity of retention truly wonderful. His conversation was a rich and varied feast. Mr. Oliphant was mem- ber of the Episcopalian Church, enjoying full membership until the day of his death. He was distinguished for his social qualities. His society was. sought by all. All would leave his social reunions not only feeling they had been pleased and entertained, but instructed. He was a kind friend, a devoted husband and an affectionate father; and his family mourn him as one whose place can never be filled.
PEYTON T. SMITH.
Peyton T. Smith, a native of Missouri, was born in St. Charles county, May 3, 1820. His parents, James W. and Lucy H., about the year 1824, removed with their infant son, Peyton, to this county, locating about seven miles southwest of Richmond, on what is known as Rollins' Branch. Nearly two years later they again removed to the farm now owned and occupied by the subject of this sketch. Here, in later years, the elder Mr. Smith, assisted by his son, operated a tannery, in connection with the farm. Peyton T. Smith was married January 19, 1843, to Miss Lucy H. Bates, a native of Virginia. The marriage ceremony was performed near where they now reside, by the Rev. Zachariah Quesenberry. This 37
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HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
union was blessed by the birth of six children, five of whom still live. The other, born March 3, 1847, died in infancy. The names of the sur- viving children, with dates of birth, are as follows, viz: Cleopatra S., born May 19, 1844; James W., born May 7, 1848; Mary S., born April 21, 1850; Nancy F., born May 22, 1852. Although Mr. Smith has met with severe reverses in business, great destruction and loss of property by fire, at different times during life, his well known industry and close attention to business, and his indomitable pluck in battling against adversity, have won for him an enviable position among his neighbors. He owns a highly improved farm of 172 acres. One hundred and sixty acres of it, com- prising pasture lands, orchard and tillable fields, are in a high state of cultivation, well watered and stocked. Mr. Smith, despite the obstacles he has been obliged to combat, is to-day a successful business man, and as an evidence of the esteem in which he is held as a financier, he has been successively elected to the responsible position of director in the Ray County Savings Bank.
GEORGE FRANK.
Was born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1849. His father, John Frank, died there, and his mother subsequently married Phillip Burrell. They removed to Lawrence county, Ohio, afterward to Boyd county, Kentucky, and after vibrating between these two states for some time, they finally found a permanent residence in the latter county and state. The old people yet live there. George Frank left them at the age of seventeen, to go out into the world and fight the battle of life alone. After visiting different sections of Ohio and Virginia, in all of which he lived awhile, at different times, he was married at Carbon- dale, Ohio, by the mayor of Athens, to Miss Dorothea Hayson, in Sep- tember, 1872. They became the parents of two children, named respect- ively Ella and Jennie. Mr. Frank and family immigrated in 1876 to Missouri, settling in Ray county. Two years later he went to Leaven- worth, Kansas, returning again here, after an absence of about fifteen months. He has followed the occupation of mining all his life, which accounts for the somewhat nomadic life he has led. He is a member of both the orders of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.
HENRY PAGE.
Was born in April, 1826, in Howard county, Missouri. In the autumn of 1835 he came to Ray county, where he has ever since made his home. A year later, by the death of his father, he was compelled, at the early age of ten years, to commence to labor for the support of the family. He was thus denied the privileges that even those primitive times afforded for the acquirement of an education. When only twenty years old, he
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HISTORY OF RAY COUNTY.
enlisted as a soldier, under General Sterling Price, and did good service in the war against Mexico. After his discharge, allured by the hope of finding a short road to wealth in the gold fields of California, he crossed the plains, in the year 1850, with a train of ox teams. After spending four years of privation and toil in the mining camps of the west, he returned home, bringing a goodly quantity of the precious metal with him. Mr. Page was married November 8, 1859, to Miss Emma Thompson, of Ray county. Six children were born to them, named as follows: Joseph T., Sallie A., Nellie, Margaret S., Henry, and Elizabeth. This gentleman, as the result of his habits of industry and economy, is the owner to-day of fourteen hundred acres of good, rich land. Besides being a successful farmer, he is also extensively engaged in stock-raising, usually feeding all the grain he produces at home. His farm, one of the finest and best in the county, is situated four miles north of Richmond.
THOMAS B. HEWLETT.
The subject of this sketch was born August 16, 1815, in Hanover county, Virginia. He is descended, on the paternal side, from Scotch ancestry; his mother's people were English. When he was but a year old, his parents removed with him to Washington county, Kentucky, where he grew up to manhood's estate. In the fall of 1836, he emigrated to Palmyra, Missouri, but, after remaining only a year, went back to Kentucky. Again, in 1842, he came to Missouri, and chose Ray county as the place for his future and permanent residence, settling, at first, seven miles north of Richmond, where he continued to reside until 1857, at which time he sold his farm and bought the one where he now lives. Here, he built Hewlett's saw mill, and in 1859, also a grist mill, which he operated, as miller, for eighteen years. In 1878, he sold his mill, and since that time, has devoted his attention altogether to farming. Mr. Hewlett was, in 1880, a successful candidate for judge of the county court of Ray county. This honorable position he has since filled, to the entire satisfaction of the people. Judge Hewlett was married, before he left Kentucky, in April, 1836, to Miss Nancy Flournoy, a native of that state: They had four children, two of whom, John P., born July 3, 1839, and Emily, born April 23, 1847, still survive. Mrs. Hewlett died August 15, 1847, and he married again April 4, 1852. The second Mrs. Hewlett is a native of Missouri. Her maiden name was Miss Rhoda A. Trigg. The fruit of the last union is four children, living: Thomas B., Jr., born January 18, 1853; Pocahontas, born May 5, 1854; Elizabeth, born August 8, 1859; Alexander D., born March 30, 1861. Judge Hewlett's father, Terry Hewlett, was a Virginian, born about 1770, and died in 1820. He served valiantly under the American flag in the war of 1812. The gen- tleman whose name heads this article is well and widely known, and
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highly respected and esteemed, as his official position testifies. He owns a fine, fertile farm, comprising three hundred and ten acres of the best land in the county, abundantly stocked and equipped, and is well fixed to end his days in comfort, and at peace with all mankind.
JOSEPH B. HINES.
Joseph B. Hines, a native of Ray county, Missouri, was born Septem- ber 27, 1828. After finishing his education at the Richmond Academy, he began teaching school in which profession he continued until 1850. He was united in marriage to Miss Jemima E. Hutchinson, of Lafayette county, Missouri, in November, 1847. Two children, Mary I. and John, were born to Mrs. Hines. With them and their mother, Mr. Hines started to California in the height of the gold excitement of 1850. On their toilsome, tedious march across the plains, Mrs. Hines and both the children were seized with that dread disease, cholera, and the husband and father, powerless to aid them, and almost frantic with grief, watched them all die before him. Burying their remains, near Fort Laramie, Mr. Hines pursued his journey westward. He spent three years mining on the Pacific slope. In California, November 25, 1851, he was again mar- ried to Eleanor Sharp, by whom he has six children living: John S., William T., Joseph P., Olivia F., Gustavus A., and Viola S. Mr. Hines returned from the west in the spring of 1853, and engaged in farming, where he now resides, a beautiful place, well improved, four miles north- west of Richmond. At the breaking out of the civil war, he enlisted in company B, Major Cummins' regiment, C. S. A., where he served about three months as forage master. At the expiration of that time a reor- ganization was held at Springfield, and Mr. Hines entered the service, as commissary of the regiment, which position he held until after the bat- tle of Pea Ridge, in March, 1862, when he went to Carrollton, Arkansas, as recruiting officer for General Raines. Here he was given the altern- ative of imprisonment at Alton, or " protection papers." He chose the latter, and at once returned home. Shortly afterwards, he left again, going to Iowa, where he taught school for about a year. At the close of the term he came back home, and has ever since been a resident of Ray county, engaged in farming and teaching. For the last few years he has devoted a great deal of attention to the nursery business, having now, on his farm, a fine young nursery of ten thousand good trees, of the best varieties. Mr. H. has taught school, at intervals, ever since he was eighteen years old. He has just closed a term with great satisfaction to all the patrons. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, and also became a member and took an active interest in the inauguration and organization of the order of Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Hines has, indeed, had a varied and eventful career, and passed through many rough
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ordeals, but he appears to have come out of them all unscathed, and is to-day successful in business, and highly respected by all who know him.
JOHN V. JOHNSON.
Was born February 14, 1846. He lived in Effington county, Illinois, until he attained his majority. Then seven years in De Witt county, same state. In 1862 he came to Missouri and found a temporary home in Cald- well county. The same year he enlisted in the Union army for three months. After his return from the army he located in Ray county, Mis- souri, where he has since lived. He was married February 3d, 1876, to Miss Lydia A. Dey, a native of Ray connty. They have two children: Elihu and Lewis. Mr. Johnson's business is mining.
WILLIAM D. PAINTER.
A native of Todd county, Kentucky. Was born August 21, 1849, and came to Ray county, Missouri, in 1879. Prior to 1872 he was engaged in farming, since then he has given his attention to coal mining. He has been married three times. First, in 1865, February 8, to Amanda James, of Bates county, Missouri. They had one child: Rebecca Ellen. Second, February 3, 1868, to Dialter Nelson, of Clay county, Missouri. Third, July 6, 1871, to Martha E. Sullards, of Andrew county, Missouri. The last Mrs. Painter became the mother of four children, of whom but one, Mary Francis, is living.
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